Ante Up World Champion Josh Prager Ships First Circuit Ring at Thunder Valley
PokerNews is in town to live report both the $3,250 High Roller and $1,700 Main Event here at the World Series of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley, but that is just one of the gold ring events that will have played out by the end of the series.
In Event #6: $400 NLH 6-Handed (One Day), 129 runners created a $42,570 prize pool that was paid out to the top 20 players. Among those to cash were Survivor alum Shirin Oskooi (19th - $595), Adam Dunkle (15th - $698), David Valdez (13th - $698), Jimmy Wester (7th - $1,351), and Alan Mulleady (3rd - $4,819).
In the end, Thunder Valley regular Josh Prager, a 46-year-old poker pro from Oakland, beat Eyyal Altar in heads-up play to win a $11,440 top prize and his first gold ring.
“I don’t know how I won, honestly. At one point I had 15,000 chips and ended up with 1.9 million. I am not really sure what my opponents were doing, I was not playing that well”, said Prager. “The times you have success you don’t deserve it, and the times fail you don’t deserve that either. Over a decade you got what you deserve, but I am happy I won today.”
You might recall that Prager had quite a bit of success last year. First, he won the LAPC One Million for $227,775 in February and then in late July came to Thunder Valley and took down the $1,650 Ante Up World Championship Main Event for $116,434.
As a result, he was a featured guest on the LFG Podcast, which you can listen to here.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Prager | Yuba City, California | $11,440 |
| 2 | Eyyal Altar | Sherman Oaks, California | $7,069 |
| 3 | Alan Mulleady | Meridian, Idaho | $4,819 |
| 4 | Rafael Gonzalez | Modesto, California | $3,370 |
| 5 | Jerome Williams | Lodi, California | $2,419 |
| 6 | James Thompson | Parker, Colorado | $1,783 |
| 7 | Jimmy Wester | Fairfield, California | $1,351 |
| 8 | Bryan Sharp | Tucson, Arizona | $1,351 |
| 9 | David Mann | Fresno, California | $1,053 |